The Post War
by The Predatory Wasp
Summary: Chronicles of the lives of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the rest while getting through the post-war. All character's, magical lingo, and places are Jo's.


Harry Potter thought after the war life would be easy. (I mean, who didn't think that?) It was going to be all unicorns and patronus' from then on.

The first order of business was the funerals. That's when it hit him. It just hit him that _Fred_, Fred Weasley was _dead. (Dead!) _ He was _never_ going to pop in and make a smart comment about Harry and Ginny (or Harry, Ron, and Hermione) again. Never would he pick on Ron or earn a disapproving glare from Molly (soon enough it would mum) or Hermione again. (Never.) The first time he saw George he nearly asked him where Fred was. He spent an hour in the bath afterward contemplating (why he survived and) why Fred died_._

Then it was Remus and Tonks. He thought Tonks was bloody wicked auror (and quite good looking) and everything, but he didn't really know her. It was Remus that really got him. (He really only knew Remus superficially as well but) Remus was the last connection to his father. That was the loss he grieved the most. After that funeral, he clung to Arthur (the only other father figure he had left) like a child does after getting lost while shopping in a big store (and Arthur never felt more appreciated).

Three months after that day (and after the last funeral or interview or some other rubbish that Harry _loathed_ doing) he went to the pub with Ron and Percy. They were both wallowing in their own guilt as well (and misery loves company). It started out as a Friday night thing. Go out, have a beer (and a whiskey), or two (more like 3), and clumsily (drunkenly) make their back to the Burrow. By the fourth week, Harry was there every night. Hermione (being the bloody know-it-all swot everyone knows she is) decided she would fix the problem (that was her post-war _thing_, fixing things).

He greeted her with a curt nod (he was a solemn drunk). She pushed her too baggy sleeves up (fixing things are more important then food, you know) as if getting ready to work in the garden (or make a dreamless sleep potion) and grabbed his arm. She then Apparated them to her temporary (permanent) flat. She sat him on the sofa and pushed a vial into his hands. He drank it promptly knowing that (a lecture from Hermione is as good of a punishment as wallowing in his guilt) he had been very irresponsible.

Once sober, Harry took off his glasses and leaned his head on the back of the sofa (cherishing the short headache that was coming on) when Hermione touched his face very softy. Considering everything that they did (or maybe the list would be shorter if you counted what they didn't do?) in the tent the past year, he already knew where this was going (and he was entirely okay with it).

You see, in times of war (or any other time) people do funny (mad) things, they may (not) regret later. Comforting (angry) shagging was one of things Harry and Hermione did in those weeks when Ron (the traitor) left them.

The next morning, both of them, thoroughly guilty and abashed (sore and content), got dressed and headed to the Burrow for breakfast (lunch). Considering Ron and Percy were still sleeping (just because they didn't go to the pub didn't mean they didn't drink), Ginny was out practicing quidditch (violently hitting bludgers), and George hadn't exited his room since Fred's funeral, Molly (mum) only had to lay out a spread for Harry, Hermione, and Arthur (but that didn't stop her from making a enough for the whole Order; that her post-war _thing_).

This type of living continued on until Halloween night, when George emerged for the first time (everyone wondered if he had made himself a loo in there), and he magicked the sweets into turning them all into spiders (just for Ron), bats, snakes, and black cats. This seemed to snap just about everyone out if their (self-inflicted) dreadful lives, and try to start acting normally (if George could, then they could).

Within the next year, Ginny and Harry were engaged (although they barely knew each other anymore), Ron and Hermione were dating seriously (even though Hermione had to spend a couple (four) days a week helping Harry with _this_ or _that_), George had taken over Zonko's (old (_old) _man Zonko begged him to so he could just die already; he had lived longer than he had wanted to (he there was nothing left worth living for), and everyone else was just getting on the best they could with the circumstances of the post-war.


End file.
